Once awhile, there is bound to be an enigmatic game like Kane and Lynch 2 : Dog Days. While it's not exactly bad, but there are some awkward designs that make this game almost stupidly annoying. The first striking noticeable feature that seems out of place is the amateurish video style. It's very similar to what a Youtube video or an old VHS video looks like. Stark low quality video with glaring lightning and grainy effect isn't exactly smooth presentation that most games aspired to be in this gen.
Yeah, I know it's Eidos. Don't ruin the fun.
Imagine making a game with plain regular camcorder operated by random stranger you just hired to follow you across town, you're half-way there. The color saturation and brightness is a bit imbalance, creating obnoxious flashing lights throughout the game as if the lens isn't properly adjusted to capture the scenery. You view the action in a manner like a third person is holding camera wobbled by excessive abuse of profanity and half drunk all the time. The most confusing, literally, addition is the shakycam. It hurts the eye and the brain when the camera is constantly thrown side to side even when you are standing still in a cover. Don't get me started when you have to aim. Fortunately it can be adjusted in option, but who thought this was a good idea?
I understand the necessity to make it realistic and raw, but when it impairs the gameplay itself, it sucks. There are a few good touches, such as the buffering effect instead of loading screen, the static noise when you put a cell phone too close to a PC, censored sex and gore, and the picture disintegrated when you take some damage. They are all just cosmetic, despite being unique and fresh, it's still far from the best presentation compared to others shooters. I have high tolerance of dizziness from playing game, but I couldn't stand playing this game for long. You'll get used to it after a few hours, but it's quiet nauseating at first and you probably won't be interested to play this for long.
Its story follows the titular Kane and Lynch as they assume the role of the wrong guys at the wrong time all the time. Some girls got killed, people trying to kill them and such. Cutscenes are told in a series of continuous pre-scripted events which seemingly blend action and cutscenes relatively fluid. There is not much loading between the levels and cutscenes, and the checkpoint load when you die is quiet short. The pacing actually flows properly, but the levels themselves are basically corridors with bad guys over and over again. Shooters basically use that approach, but Kane and Lynch 2 doesn’t has any variety to it. It’s unimpressive and uninspiring.
The graphic is understandably choppy due the presentation, but the setting is not without merit. Sometimes it's quiet detailed like the merchandises in the shops or the streets of Shanghai, but it doesn't get as nearly as good as the ones I saw from its competition. Main characters model are well rendered, until the cuts in their bodies, but the enemies and some supporting characters are downright stiff mannequin-like. They move so unnatural and forced, pretty much a marionette with only half the strings. Their expressions are even worse, near last-gen doll model.
The whole thing looks like Siren, a horror game from PS2. Eidos created smooth presentation like in Hitman, I wonder it this game would benefit better if they made it like that. It should be okay if the game plays great, but unfortunately it's not as good. The awkward movement and graph actually hurt the gameplay too. Animation of enemies getting shot is downright ridiculous, they will tumble inconsistently, flailing their limbs as if they are bitten by a swarm of mosquitoes when in fact, you are peppering them with bullets.
I played in Hard mode, but I wanted my enemies to be clever with some level of sophisticated tactic to overcome them, but instead I got bullet sponge enemies with barely hit detection on them. One time, I shot a guy 4-5 times in the legs when he was crossing from cover to cover, he fell down so half-assedly and then after what seemed to be a constipated attack, he got back up and acted like nothing happened. Why did he leave his original cover in the first place? I don't know, the AI does that sometimes. Why didn't he suffer from massive leg amputation? No clue. And why he sometimes has no blood on him while my camera got smeared with blood all over when I got scrapped?
Notice the enemy casually strolling with smug grin on his face.
Yup, the gameplay don't have many to offer. Just go here, take cover and shoot. The bare bone of shooter. It doesn't even has an array of cool weapons. Only your basic SMG, assault rifle and shotgun, with a glimpse of MG at the latter part. Some of the weapons have piss poor accuracy and more like a pellet gun to irritate your neighbor. No grenade, explosion is done by throwing some things, fire extinguisher or gas tank, to enemies and shoots it. This proves to be risky when crowded, because the time spent to throw such objects is equal to the time a group of men need to waste you if you lean over from the cover. There is also no melee, only human shield grappling when an enemy is close by, which is useless since you'll expose yourself, only able to use handgun while harassing the poor sod and the remaining enemies usually shoot through your hostage. Dumbshit.
Other than the highly inappropriate profanity, there is little else recognizable on the sound department. There is no soundtrack to be had here, surprising because the main title itself has Chinese tracks which gives the wrong impression of audio friendly game. The noise of each guns is present and quite distinct, but nothing new or fresh. Enemies will sometimes yell at Chinese, but remain silent most of the times. The echoing sound from the distance or occasion songs are not frequent, so you are left with Kane and Lynch banter each other, and complaint psychotically about their situation.
Good news is story can be played co-op, a rare treat and certainly much better to go at it alone. Other than the story mode, there is the arcade mode. It's basically a heist mode of multiple people which the players are one of the robbers. The objective is get the money and escape within time limit as usual, but mid-way you can kill your teammate for their share, or abandon the ones that has least money or decide to take all of the loot for yourself. Each action has repercussion, making this cat and mouse game interesting. Unfortunately, it still use the same mechanic as the story.
Kane and Lynch is a mix bag. It has some good ideas, but none of it came into fruition well enough. The story is around 6-8 hours, there is still multiplayer and arcade mode, but the gameplay mechanic itself isn't compelling. It's not easy to recommend this to any one. It does try to make a harsh realistic journey in Shang Hai, but ultimately falls short. Find Vanquish instead.
Graph. Blaring uncomfortable color tone and ugly character models. 5/10
Sound. Jarringly quiet and unmemorable. 5/10
Gameplay. Basic shooter with some twist. 6/10
Presentation. Unique, yet confusing and comes off as lazy. 6/10
Overall. 5.5/10
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